


Ficlets and Drabbles 2017

by forgetme



Category: Naruto
Genre: Drabble Collection, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-09-03
Updated: 2017-09-03
Packaged: 2018-12-23 08:37:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 1,439
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11986191
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/forgetme/pseuds/forgetme
Summary: What it says on the tin.





	1. Kakashi/Iruka/Gai - make up

“Hold still.”  
  
Iruka suppressed a shudder. The sensation of something gliding across his lips mingled with the rhythmic pull on his hair, the steady whisper of the brush. His scalp tingled; his pulse thrummed beneath the calloused hand holding his jaw. Somewhere close by, a bed creaked.  
  
 _Why was he doing this?_  
  
Iruka’s eyes fluttered open. A mistake because now he caught a glimpse of Gai-san’s tongue poking out of the corner of Gai’s mouth even as Gai drew back a little, lipstick still poised, to survey his handiwork.   
  
_Because he couldn’t make tokubetsu jōnin unless he finished at least one S-Rank._  
  
“You have to do the corners, Gai,” Kakashi-san said, his voice drawing Iruka’s gaze past Gai to the mirror, where it met Kakashi’s single dark eye and the blood red of the exposed Sharingan. From somewhere beyond the wall came dull thud and a muffled whimper. Cheeks burning under the powder Gai-san had so carefully applied earlier, Iruka looked down at the long, wide sleeves hiding his coyly folded hands.  
  
 _Because he wanted to be stronger for Naruto._  
  
“Open your mouth a little, Iruka-kun.”   
  
He did as he was told and his eyes fluttered shut again. In the next room, someone moaned.  
  
This time, when Gai-san dabbed the lipstick against his soft flesh, Iruka had to actively fight the image of Gai-san’s tongue floating up in his mind. Gai-san’s hands smelled like chamomile, his breath like peppermint. They warmed Iruka’s face.  
  
There was a click behind him as Kakashi-san set down the brush and started to go to work with his hands, sliding his fingers into Iruka’s hair and pulling gently. He’d used his Sharingan to copy the movements of one of the women when she’d done up her hair and now he was replicating her complicated style.  
  
“Keep your eyes closed,” Gai-san instructed.   
  
_Because this monster needed to be stopped._  
  
The feather-light touch of the brush like butterfly wings on his eyelid.   
Something thudded again.  
  
Iruka’s toes clenched inside the tabi.  
  
“You’ll go with him when he asks you to,” Kakashi-san said. His breath caressed the shell of Iruka’s ear, sending shivers down his spine. “That’s all you have to do. Wait for him to approach you. Smile. Go with him.”  
  
“Understood.”  
  
“Remember, you’re the bait. We’re the hook.”  
  
 _Doesn’t the bait get swallowed in this analogy,_ Iruka thought as he slowly opened his eyes. Gai-san was staring at him, his face flushed with pride.  
  
“What do you think, Rival?”  
  
“Hmmm, not bad… But you look a little pale, sensei. Having second thoughts?”  
  
Iruka took a moment to study his reflection in the mirror. Long lashes and lush lips, the powder on his cheeks nothing like the chalk dust usually clinging to his fingertips. “No, I’m fine,” he said, thinking of the dead young men, not that much older than Naruto. “I’m ready.”  
  
He hadn’t expected Kakashi-san to touch him again now that they were finished, so it came as a surprise when he leaned closer and put a hand on Iruka’s shoulder.   
  
“Good. Don’t worry. We won’t let anything happen to you, sensei.” His voice was low and intimate and the strength and determination behind it raised the hairs on the back of Iruka’s neck.  
  
“Iruka-kun, I promise you that we will protect you with our lives!” Gai-san had taken hold of his other shoulder.  
  
His heart pounding frantically, Iruka stared at his own reflection. He was smiling.


	2. Kakashi - soulbond

“I’m telling you because, as the new Hokage, I’m thinking of putting an end to this.”  
  
Kakashi glanced down at his wrist, at the red characters on his pale skin spelling out his wife’s name. Inuzuka Hana. He remembered the night of his sixteenth birthday when it had appeared there, like blood dripping on snow. The first time he’d seen her, all he could think was, _she looks so much like Rin…_ And she’d been so much younger than him, too.  
  
He hadn’t married her until a year ago, until she was eighteen.  
  
He’d waited all these years, feeling blank at the thought of her. He’d made himself not look at boys; he’d pushed Gai as far away as possible.  
  
“So it was a jutsu all along.” All that talk of fate and the gods…  
  
And yet, Kakashi wasn’t even surprised, not really.  
  
After all, shinobi were tools and the village needed children.


	3. Kisame/Gai - sparkles

Around him, droplets of water hang in the air, catching the light. No, not water. There is a glimmer and it moves with him. You don’t see such brightness in Kirigakure, Kisame thinks.  
  
He came to the ocean to catch a break, what strange coincidence that Maito Gai should be here, hopping around in the surf wearing a fundoshi of all things.  
  
_Hmm, your face looks kind of familiar… Have we met somewhere before?_  
  
Someone this stupid should not be able to live.  
  
Maito Gai and his dumb, wide mouth, the pearly shine of his teeth when he laughs.  
  
It makes Kisame think of blood, the way it doesn’t reflect the light but swallows it instead. He imagines Maito Gai’s blood filling his mouth, that taut flesh splitting between his teeth.  
  
Something this sparkly must taste sweet.


	4. Kakashi/Gai - tenderness

When Gai is with the baby, he whispers. Not the way he usually does, by leaning into your personal space, basically shouting in a slightly lower voice and spitting into your ear in the process.  
No, he actually _whispers_.  
  
His hands – those big, calloused hands that have left countless bruises on Kakashi’s skin – cradle Metal against his brick wall of a chest, his lips brush the infant’s forehead in the most delicate of kisses. The bright red of a half-healed cut from their last spar against the downy black wisps of baby hair.  
  
Kakashi swallows.  
  
It’s terrifying how much he yearns to be on the receiving end of such tenderness.


	5. Kakashi/Gai - demands

Static flickered across the screen, then the grainy image of a white fox mask appeared. There was the sound of someone clearing their throat and the mask dipped a little. Presumably the person was looking down to read their demands from a list held out of frame. When they moved, they revealed a hooded figure standing in the background.  
  
After a beat the fox lifted his eyes to the camera again. “Rokudaime!” A man’s voice, dripping with self-importance. For a split second something green flashed in the corner of the screen. Without making a sound, the hooded figure crumpled to the ground. The masked man, however, seemed unaware of what was going on behind him.  
  
He chuckled. “We have your cri—“  
  
Shikamaru pushed the pause button just in time to freeze the video on the image of an arm – muscles bulging under tight green fabric – wrapped around fox’s throat. The mask was half dislodged, revealing one bloodshot bulging eye, pallid skin and a jaw that hadn’t even had enough time to drop.  
  
Konoha’s sixth Hokage, Hatake Kakashi leaned back in his chair and sighed as Shikamaru fast-forwarded through the short but brutal fight. Only to pause again, to make his point, Kakashi guessed, on what they all knew would be the last image of the video, a still of Maito Gai, face blood-spattered, radiating manic joy and triumph, giving the camera his trademark grin and thumbs-up before shutting it off.  
  
“I’m really going to have to talk to him about this, aren’t I,” Kakashi asked no one in particular.  
  
Like the talented diplomat he was turning out to be, Shikamaru chose to focus in the video recorder instead of replying. “What do you want me to do with the tape?”  
  
“Put it with the others,” Yamato answered. He’d been watching with his arms folded across his chest, face completely expressionless, but Kakashi had felt the waves of disapproval rolling off his kohai during the short viewing. “It’s evidence after all. When should we schedule their trial, Hokage-sama?”  
  
Pointed question. Kakashi turned to Sakura, who stood next to an uncharacteristically quiet Naruto.  
  
“Not any time soon. They’re going to be at the hospital for a while,” she said.  
  
“I guess we’re done here for today then. You’re dis—“  
  
“Wait, Kakashi-sensei! I don’t get it! Why do people keep kidnapping Super-Eyebrows-sensei whenever they want something from you?”  
  
Everyone looked at Naruto.  
  
Then they all looked at Kakashi.  
  
No one said anything.  
  
If a penny had dropped in the room, the noise would have seemed deafening, but, alas, nothing dropped at all.  
  
Finally, Kakashi cleared his throat.  
  
“Hmm,” he said, making a show of scratching his chin, “I guess he must seem vulnerable on account of his injury.”  
  
“But, you know,” he added cheerfully, “I’ve never really thought about it!”


End file.
